Friday, 24 June 2011

15 Tips for Staying on Track: #7 - Where's Your Carrot?

I'm talking about motivation of course!

It actually takes relatively little time to burn off fat. You need to burn around 3,500 calories to shift a pound of fat – this can be done in a week! It generally takes less time to lose the excess than it took to gain it – isn’t that a great thought? In my opinion, nothing breeds motivation like success, so do employ strategies to help you have tangible evidence of your own success.

Image Source: a friend of he:משתמש גילגמש.

Nothing destroys motivation as much as complacency, however; before you know it, that teaspoon of peanut butter has become a big, heaped teaspoon of peanut butter! That small banana has become a medium banana, which in turn has become a large one! And no, a banana is not 90 cals – a small banana (6” long) is around 90 cals! A large banana is around 120-130cals! Occasionally this isn’t going to hurt but make a habit of it and you’ll see those pounds either not shift, or pile back on.

And then what happens? You become de-motivated, think “F- it, I may as well have the entire packet of cookies”, and before you know it, you’re feeling like a failure. And you give up. Until the next time you get a wake-up call, and you start the whole cycle again.

The trick is to stay motivated, and to understand that the occasional slip isn’t going to ruin all your hard work. And to stay motivated, you’ll need help. You’ll need all of your strategies, you’ll need your support network, and you’ll need to know when to be gentle with yourself and when to toughen up!

Yes, there will be times when it will be challenging but the challenges are what help us grow. Each and every one of us is amazing, and we all have it within us to do amazing things. Why should you be any different?